Jealousy
by eyeofthetiger95
Summary: Tammy and Leon's relationship had felt like a dream come true. But when Tammy sees him talking to another girl, her murderous instincts prove too difficult to control. Now it's up to Skarlet, the last living guild officer, to stop her fiery rampage before Tammy's jealousy claims more innocent victims. A Hypixel Warlords fanfiction, rated M for graphic violence and language.
1. Chapter 1

TammysSirens trudged through the fine flakes of ash that coated the arena ground like snow, brushing it off her face and arms as she moved. It was everywhere, swirling in the wind and clogging her nose when she tried to breathe. She coughed and cleared her throat, peering through the cloudy air. The breeze would sweep it away soon enough, but it wouldn't scatter the little piles of bones left in the woods, brittle and charred from the heat of the flames.

It had to happen. Games were brutal most days, but today had been particularly bad, and not even winning by the tiniest margin had raised her spirits. Killing wasn't in Tammy's nature. It was just another one of life's sad necessities. She wandered back to the Ashes of Eden guild fortress, lost in thought. Leon had taken a day off and she had missed him terribly during the match. As she pushed open the heavy wooden doors, Tammy almost walked straight into Panda...

...talking to Leon.

 _Her Leon._

Fire spread through her veins as killing rage ignited her blood once more, screaming for destruction. How dare Panda try to steal what was hers, and hers alone? It took every ounce of self-control Tammy possessed to not engulf the little aquamancer in flames right then and there, to savor her screams of agony as she burned.

"Uh... Tammy." Leon's voice cut through her thoughts.

"Oh hey." Tammy tried to look as if she'd just noticed them. "Hi Panda."

Leon backed away when she reached out to hug him. "Tammy, you're a bit... hot."

She giggled and swatted at his sleeve. "Isn't that why you're with me?"

"No, your hands... Well you just... burnt my armor." Leon's words trailed off as the smell of scorched leather and fabric stung Tammy's nose. He hadn't been complimenting her.

"Right," Tammy muttered. She licked her thumb and forefinger and pinched out the glowing edges that her hand had left when she touched him. "Sorry."

"I'll just be... in my room," Panda said quickly. "Nice seeing you Tammy." She shot Leon an odd look and fled up the stairs.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Tammy forced herself not to put a flame burst in Panda's back as she left, and instead extinguished the orange glow that had been growing in her palm. "Just had some rough games. I'll be fine."

"Good." He hugged her gently and placed a light kiss on her forehead. "I need to talk to Panda more about whether or not we need to recruit more people for the guild so I probably won't see you until later."

"Okay." She watched him disappear down the hall to the stairs the same way Panda had gone, still wondering if she could just casually toss a few fireballs in her direction and make it look like an accident. It wouldn't be difficult, just one little flick of her wrist...

Tammy threw her gemini back into the storage room, not even bothering to check and see if she'd put it in her proper cubby. She hurried to her own room. Something had to be done. She wasn't about to wait for Panda to steal him away.

* * *

The soft chime of an alarm woke Skarlet at four in the morning. She sat up and peered around in the darkness. It wasn't her alarm clock.

She stood up and peeked out of her door. All of the torches were out and she couldn't see anything, but it was oddly warm in the hallway, much too warm for nighttime.

Running footsteps echoed across the floor above her. Before Skarlet could react, there was an incredible crash and Tammy fell straight through the floor, landing in a heap on the ground in front of her. A wave of blistering heat accompanied her, and Skarlet slowly realized that the fortress was burning.

"Fire!" Tammy cried. "Get everyone out now!"

"What...?" Skarlet backed away from the hole in the ceiling as it began to crumble. The wooden beams cracked and collapsed in showers of orange sparks.

"Get the others, I'll find Leon and Panda!" Tammy sprinted up to the burning floor, leaving a glittering purple time warp rune on the ground behind her.

Still half-asleep, Skarlet ran for her aquamancer weapon and began soaking the bottom floor in water bolts trying to slow the fire's spread. The other guild members were slowly emerging from their rooms.

"What's going on?" Exon mumbled.

"Wake up!" Skarlet blasted him in the face with a jet of the coldest water she could summon. "Get the others out before this place goes down."

"Really... wasn't necessary." Exon yawned and shot her a wounded look as he started helping people out the door and down the stairs.

Tammy reappeared in a burst of purple light, supporting an unconscious Leon. "I couldn't get Panda, her ceiling went down before I got in."

"No!" Skarlet looked up, weighing her options, but an ominous cracking sound from above reminded her there was no time. "Fuck. Just go." She grabbed Leon's other arm and helped Tammy drag him from the burning fortress.

The rest of the guild had gotten out safely. They were huddled together in shock, looking up at the sheets of fire leaping up into the sky. Skarlet and Tammy dropped Leon unceremoniously on the lawn next to them.

"Where's Panda?" Major asked.

Skarlet bit her lip, wishing she didn't have to break the news to the others. "We... We couldn't get to her in time."

Horrified gasps spread through the little group.

"I think it started in her room," said Tammy quietly. "It took down the ceiling and the doorway before I could get in. I'm... so sorry."

The flames were starting to die down. It hadn't spread to the lower floor, but the roof looked unstable. Skarlet picked up her aquamancer staff and started to head back inside.

"Where are you going?" Tammy called.

"I need to find the body."


	2. Chapter 2

Tammy tossed and turned in her new bed. The other Warlords guilds had generously helped rebuild the ruined fortress after Panda's funeral, but she couldn't shake the feeling that most of them suspected something.

What could she do? Leon would protect her if anyone accused her of starting the fire, but it was looking pretty bad for her. She had been the one who discovered it first, she had failed to "rescue" Panda from the remains of her room, and she was the only true pyromancer main in Ashes of Eden anyway. She gave up on sleeping and headed back out the the Warlords arenas for some stress relief. Maybe she could practice burning someone without spreading the fire around.

Leon was already there when she arrived in the lobby. She caught his eye and waved to him, but he seemed preoccupied. Tammy figured it was just because of Panda, but something still didn't feel right to her. It was uncomfortable and uncomfortable things needed to be burned.

* * *

"This fucking sucks," Leon muttered. He and Delta were writing copy-pasted generic thank-you notes to the other guilds while Skarlet built another upstairs room for SheerPrecision to share with Tammy.

"How did Panda handle this?" Delta wrote on a spare card and held it up. He rarely spoke but he had become even more withdrawn since Panda's death.

"Hell if I know." Skarlet threw the remaining blocks into the fireplace and pushed two beds into the corners of the room. "Looks fine to me. Are you done yet Leon?"

"Yeah." Leon signed the last note and dumped them all in a pile for her. "Sign them and seal the envelopes. I'll get Tammy to deliver them."

She scribbled a quick signature on each card and tucked them into the labeled envelopes. "Rez, Zephyr, Veterans, Oops, Divine Knights, Kalibur, nothing for Deadly Shadow?"

Leon just looked at her. "They didn't do shit."

"You know how butthurt Serena gets. Thank her for existing or something, I don't know."

"I'd rather she didn't," Leon muttered but he wrote it anyway.

"Thanks. I'll leave them outside Tammy's room." Skarlet gathered up the notes and opened the door to Leon's room, but nearly walked into Tammy standing right outside. "Oh, you're right here... Okay."

"What were you doing in there?" Tammy asked suspiciously.

"Um... writing thank-you notes to the other guilds? Normal officer stuff? Leon wants them delivered today." Skarlet shoved the bundle at her, put off by Tammy's attitude. "Get moving. I heard the Oops fortress relocated to the other side of the world. See you in two days." She shut the door in Tammy's face, ignoring her glare.

"Your girlfriend is starting to piss me off," she told Leon.

"You could have handled that better," he snapped.

"No, YOU could have handled that better. I'm done dealing with her."

Leon looked annoyed but Skarlet cut him off before he could protest.

"She's jealous as fuck and she'll stalk you to the ends of the earth to make sure no other girl even looks at you for longer than 20 seconds." She tossed a carpet over the bare stone floor of the new room and sealed up the wall. "Hell, she probably thought something was going on just because I was in the same room with you."

Leon rolled his eyes. "You still could have been nicer."

"Whatever." Skarlet went back to her room. Delta waved a sign at her as she left but she didn't see. She dropped her writing pens back into her desk drawer, then laid down and closed her eyes. She missed Panda. Skarlet had refused to cry at the funeral, not wanting to show weakness in front of the other guilds who had come to pay their respects, but now the tears threatened to fall.

There was a little shuffling noise at her door and a note slipped underneath. It was Delta's sign from earlier. "Kara is asking for you downstairs."

 _Shit_. "Tell her I'll be there in a moment," Skarlet called. She picked up her aquamancer weapon and pulled her mage hood over her messy hair, then hurried downstairs.

Kara and Loco were sitting by the fireplace. "I heard about Panda," Kara said. "I couldn't make it to the funeral. How are you guys holding up?"

"We're managing," said Skarlet. "Hi Loco."

"Hi." He was staring very intently at a spot on the blank stone wall. Skarlet waited for him to say something else but he didn't. Even at the best of times, there wasn't much going on behind his eyes, but Loco had been even more spaced out than usual since Panda's funeral.

"We need to talk," said Kara. "Is Tammy around?"

"No, I had her deliver thank-yous to the other guilds. She won't be back for a day or two. Why?"

"You need pyro practice. We're going outside."

"Kara, neither of us even play pyro-"

"Not up for discussion."

There was a strange look on Kara's face and Skarlet decided not to argue. She let Kara drag her out to the training field while Loco continued to stare blankly at the wall.

"Is he okay?" Skarlet asked when they were out of earshot.

"Is he ever okay?" Kara shrugged. "You know how he gets."

"I really don't," Skarlet said, but Kara didn't hear her.

"What do you know about Pyromancer fireballs?"

"Um... What?"

Kara rolled her eyes. "I know you were pyro trash at one point. Are you seriously telling me you've never tried to burn anything other than a player?"

"What? Well sometimes I burn old papers to get rid of them but nothing more than that."

"What have you noticed about it?"

Skarlet tried to remember. "Uh, it's clean. Fast. No smoke, no ash, it's pretty handy."

"Exactly. Pyro spell fires don't generate smoke unless it's something containing liquid, like a person. It sucks oxygen out of the air very slowly, but burns incredibly hot. You'll feel heat ages before you see flames. And there's never smoke when it burns dry wood or any other kind of dry fuel."

"Kara what are you getting at here?"

"Tammy told you Panda died of smoke inhalation. She lied."

"No, I knew she suffocated when I saw her..." A painful lump formed in Skarlet's throat as she remembered carrying Panda's body out of the ruins. She had looked so fragile, cold and pale and still, curled into a ball on her bed.

Kara reached out and squeezed her shoulder. "I'm truly sorry for your loss."

"It's... It's okay." Skarlet cleared her throat and blinked away tears again. "Look, I still don't understand what you're trying to say."

"I spoke to Leon about what happened earlier. He said a lot, but nothing about smelling smoke."

"Leon's still a little scrambled Kara. He could barely remember his own name after Tammy got him out."

"So tell me what you remember. As much as you can." Kara crossed her arms and looked expectant.

Skarlet pushed aside the painful memories and tried to sift through what had happened. "It was hot in the hall. Upstairs floor collapsed. I was on the lower floor with the guild members... Tammy told me to run."

"You should have smelled smoke from a normal fire when the upper floor went down."

Skarlet suddenly felt cold, even though the field was in direct sunlight. "Are you saying Tammy started the fire?"

"I'm saying a pyromancer started it. Panda suffocated because she couldn't feel the oxygen getting consumed in the air. Leon passed out and would have died too if Tammy hadn't gotten him out. This shit burns slow, Skarlet. If there was time to get Leon, there was time to get Panda. Why wasn't she saved?"

"But why would Tammy do something like that?"

Kara looked exasperated. "Why do girls kill other girls? Jealousy."

"Of Panda and Leon? They were like siblings to each other."

"I didn't say I had all the goddamn answers. Skarlet, all I'm saying is that this wasn't an accident and you should probably be sleeping with one eye open since I'm pretty sure either you or Sheer didn't burn the fortress and kill your own guild master. Let's not have this happen again."

Skarlet rubbed her arms, trying to get rid of the sudden chill. "I'll keep an eye out. Thanks Kara."

"No problem. Okay we should actually do some target practice... I'll set up the moving targets over here."

Kara walked away and Skarlet looked around to make sure they were alone. There was a flash of white in the window- a shaman's skull mask.

Loco. How long had he been there, listening? Unnerved, Skarlet gripped her void twig and followed Kara away.


	3. Chapter 3

The thick forest seemed to stretch on and on forever. Tammy dragged herself through the trees on foot, cursing Skarlet the entire time. Why? Why was she the messenger? Why couldn't it have been Delta? God fucking dammit. Skarlet had wanted her gone. Probably so that she could get closer to Leon. Bitch. She blasted some low-hanging branches with angry fireballs, hoping the whole sorry mess would burn itself down. Why couldn't they understand that Leon was hers?

The Zephyr fortress suddenly loomed up in a clearing. It was lit with colorful pulsing rave lasers and Tammy could hear Felflame's favorite song, the Kazoo Kid trap remix, rattling the foundations. She gritted her teeth, covered her ears, and knocked on the door, resisting the urge to burn it down as well.

Felflame answered it a few seconds later with PromisedRose clinging to his arm. "What's up?"

"A thank-you from Ashes of Eden after our recent tragedy." Tammy handed over the envelope.

"Oh, nice." He tucked it away in a pocket. "You want to come in and have a drink? It's a bad time of night to be out."

"I'm fine. I really need to get going."

"Cool. Say hi to Skarlet for me." Felflame shut the door and went back to his party.

Tammy gritted her teeth again at the mention of Skarlet. She grabbed her horse's reins and kept walking. Why couldn't she get away from Skarlet even at another guild fortress? They were expecting her back at Eden in two days... what if she finished the delivery early? No one would see it coming, plus she'd have an easy alibi and the support of the other guilds who would swear she was nowhere near Eden when it happened.

Yes... That was it. Tammy reached a clearing in the dense trees and climbed back up on the saddle. She dug her heels into the horse's flanks and took off as fast as she could through the woods. With enough time, anything was possible.

* * *

Skarlet slept badly that night, thinking about what Kara had said. Another pyromancer had started the fire... What if it wasn't Tammy? Eden had more than its fair share of enemies in other guilds. She had taken her old cryomancer staff to her room and laid it next to her bed. At least it might buy her some time.

Footsteps clicked across the floor outside.

She sat up and looked at her clock. It was one in the morning, who was walking around at this hour? Tammy couldn't possibly be back yet.

The steps stopped outside her door. Skarlet's heart leaped into her throat. She grabbed the staff and dropped a Time Warp behind the door, then hurried back to her bed and laid down, pretending to sleep. Her free hand traced a Freezing Breath rune in the air next to her, readying the burst for when the Warp pulled her back.

Skarlet watched the doorknob twist open. Cold certainty flooded through her veins. She wasn't going to die like Panda, alone and helpless in the dark. The door creaked open and a sliver of dim light from the hallway came in, just as the Warp hummed softly and teleported her back in a rush of cool air, placing her right behind the cloaked figure who stepped inside.

"Surprise," Skarlet whispered.

The visitor turned towards the sound of her voice and she cast the Freezing Breath right into its face.

They staggered back, blinded by the sudden blast of ice. A seismic wave rippled across the room and nearly threw her into the hallway. She ducked under the figure's clumsy slash, parried their next strike with her own staff, and slapped the redstone switch on the floor nearby. All of the lamps clicked on, revealing a figure much too tall to be Tammy, wearing the red armor and horned helmet of a warrior.

"PRAN!" Skarlet nearly screamed. She stared at the Kalibur leader in horror, trying to put the pieces together. "You- what the hell was that?!"

"I could ask you the same," said Pran coldly. He nudged her staff away from his face and wiped the last traces of Freezing Breath off of his hood. "You're closer to the edge than most of my guild, and that's saying something."

"Our guildmaster recently died under some suspicious f***ing circumstances, so forgive me if we're all a bit tense right now!" The adrenaline rush was beginning to wear off but Skarlet kept the staff raised. "Tammy sent you here to kill me, didn't she? You've been working with her!"

Pran shot her a withering glare and pushed past her, sitting down on her bed. "Nice room you have here. I'm surprised it doesn't have a trampoline, since you love jumping to conclusions so much."

"Tell me where I'm wrong!" Skarlet snapped. "You're a day's ride away from your own guild fortress. You didn't come to Panda's funeral. I sent Tammy to Kalibur earlier today, and she could have given you orders. And to top it all off, you don't even ask before walking the fuck into my room, armed, unannounced, at one in the morning. Start talking or I throw you out of here with my own damn hands."

"That would require you to hit me with Frostbolts, which I can't really imagine ever happening." Pran stood up, went over to Skarlet's desk, and picked up a pen and a scrap of paper. "Kara was right. You need more practice."

Skarlet ignored the insult. "Kara? When did you talk to her?"

"Loco told me what she said to you yesterday."

 _That eavesdropping piece of_... Skarlet's nails dug into her palms. "What exactly did Loco tell you?"

"Kara thinks Tammy burned your fortress as a cover for her primary objective, which was killing Panda." Pran finished writing something on the paper and folded it up. "I find it odd but not unlikely."

"Tammy? You think she'd do that?"

"I'm not sure what you're asking me here. I know that she's a very possessive person who views other girls as a threat to her relationship." Pran rolled his eyes. "I'm sure Loco can relate, on some level. It's probably why he told me."

"Whatever." Skarlet loosened her grip on the drakefang and leaned it against the wall. "You're avoiding the question. Why are you here?"

"To talk to an officer of Ashes of Eden." Pran shrugged. "Actually I came to talk to Leon, but his room is empty, so I went to you instead. Is Delta at the Shadow fortress?"

"Yeah, he's technically not part of Eden." Skarlet rubbed her temples and stared out of her tiny window. "So it's just me then. What did you want to talk about?"

"Is Tammy here right now?" Pran asked.

"No, I sent her out to deliver thank-you notes to the other guild leaders. She won't be back for a while."

"Alright, this is going to sound bad, but just keep an open mind, okay?"

Skarlet raised an eyebrow. "Okay."

"Let me deal with Tammy. She'll disappear in the forest and you'll never have to worry about her again. I wanted to talk to Leon about it first; obviously since he's more connected to her than you, but I can get Kara to talk to him later. I just needed to see if this could be done. I'll avenge Panda and deal with your guild's problems in one quick neat kill."

Skarlet stared at him in horror. "Pran... No. I can't let you do this."

"Why? It'll be so easy-"

"No! She needs to stand before the rest of Eden and admit what she's done. They need to hear it. Pran... This is about closure. For us. Not your personal revenge."

He shook his head and wrote something else. "What will it take, Skarlet? How much more blood needs to be shed for her and Leon? She killed her own guild leader. You'll be next."

"Are you threatening me?"

"No. I'm warning you." Pran tossed the folded piece of paper on Skarlet's desk and stood up to leave. "You want to be persuaded? Fine. I'll let Tammy do it herself."

He swept out of her room before she could say anything.

"Skarlet?" Leon called from the staircase. "Everything okay up there?" He caught sight of Pran leaving and shot her a questioning look.

"Not what it looks like," Skarlet snapped at him. "I'll tell you in the morning." She slammed and locked her door, then froze the lock shut with a spray of ice. She didn't think she was going to be able to sleep, but she did.


	4. Chapter 4

When Skarlet came down to the main hall the next morning, she found Leon and Delta reading a message. A torn envelope with a Z seal lay on the table.

"What did Zephyr say?"

Leon slammed the paper down and put his hands over his eyes. His shoulders were shaking. "It's a fucking mess."

"Leon, what happened?"

"Their fortress burned last night... just like ours. Lots of casualties. Felflame is dead. Squag is comatose. Corr is dying. They think we did it."

Skarlet looked at him in horror. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Leon practically threw the letter at her. "Read the back."

She snatched it up and read quickly. "'We are aware that TammysSirens of the guild Ashes of Eden was the last registered visitor, a pyromancer of questionable mental stability and a brief history of burned guild halls.' Oh my god… Where the hell is she now?"

"Delta already talked to the other guilds-" Leon began.

"Delta talked?" Skarlet asked. "That's a first."

"Don't interrupt me!" Leon shouted. "He found out from Shadow that they saw her passing through their area early this morning. It's a complete fucking nightmare, okay Skarlet? We're being accused of sending a fucking arsonist to competing guilds with intent to kill!"

"But no one else knew Tammy was suspected of burning..." Skarlet trailed off. "Oh my god. I'm going to sew Loco's stupid little mouth shut. He told them. He told everyone."

"Of course," Leon muttered.

"If she was passing through Shadow, she's going to be back tonight." Skarlet stared out the window into the deep woods, half-expecting to see Tammy riding up the path already. "How do we get to her first so that she doesn't hurt anyone else?"

"I don't know. I sent Major and Sheer after her on the main path, but we have no way of tracking exactly where she is. I don't know where to find her..." Leon looked up. His eyes were red and swollen with tears. "I loved her. I still do. But I can't..."

"I know." Skarlet didn't know what to tell him. "I'm sorry."

Delta quickly scribbled something on the torn envelope and held it up. "We need to get her to confess publicly."

"But how?" Skarlet demanded. "We need to find her first. That's our priority. And if she tries to fight back, we bring her back dead."

Delta sighed and wrote something else. "Leon told me Pran was here to see you last night."

"He was," Skarlet said. "Offered to hunt and kill Tammy before something else like this happened."

"It's not too late to accept his help," Delta wrote. "We need him now."

"No!" Leon shouted. "I'm going." He shoved his chair aside so violently that it hit the wall behind him and shattered. "Fuck this. I'm the only one who can talk some sense into her. Stay here. Don't follow me. I'll be back."

"Leon-" Skarlet reached for his arm but he pushed her away.

"Don't stop me. I have to try." He grabbed his Amaranth from the weapons locker and ran out the front door.

Delta and Skarlet looked at each other.

"Now we wait," Delta wrote.

"No," Skarlet said grimly. "You can wait. I'm contacting Pran. I can't let Leon die out there."

* * *

Tammy crouched behind a tree, watching the door of the Eden fortress. Major and Sheer had emerged a few minutes ago, but they hadn't seen her. She had taken care to hide far away.

She smiled to herself, turning over the plan in her mind again. Wait until Major and Sheer came back. Burn the fortress. Kill Skarlet when she tried to evacuate the guild. Find Leon. They would escape into the woods together, and no one would be any wiser.

The door suddenly burst open. Tammy ducked down under the thick branches, but as she squinted through the leaves, she could see a winged helmet and the magenta shimmer of an amaranth blade.

Leon?

He grabbed his horse from the stable, threw himself into the saddle, and raced out along the path. He wasn't going to pass her hiding place, but she could intercept him before he got too far. Tammy straightened up and took the reins of her own horse. There was a clearing that he was going to pass through along the path. She could surprise him there.

She wondered why he was leaving Eden so early in the morning. Maybe... Maybe Skarlet and Delta had finally driven him crazy. She pictured him finding her in the woods, overjoyed that she had come back to him early. She giggled. Maybe he'd help her torch the fortress. They could fake their deaths in the fire. No one had to know.

The clearing came into view a few moments later. Tammy sat down on a fallen log and wiped a spot of dirt from her gemini. She could hear his horse drawing closer. One little fireball wouldn't hurt... Would it?

Leon's black warhorse pounded down the path. Tammy aimed the fireball right at its hooves. It wasn't a strong one, but it made a little puff of light and smoke in the dirt. The horse reared up, snorting in terror, and Leon jumped out of the saddle and drew his Amaranth in one smooth movement.

One moment Tammy had been sitting on the log, and the next she was on her back with the blade pressed up against her chin. Leon kicked her gemini out of her hand and planted his foot firmly on her chest.

"Ow," Tammy whimpered. "Babe, come on. I wasn't gonna hurt you."

"Somehow I don't believe you," Leon snarled. The Amaranth opened a stinging cut on her neck and Tammy could feel blood soaking into the collar of her mage armor. "You've killed so many already. One more won't matter."

"What are you talking about?" Tammy gasped. She twisted her head, trying to get away from the blade. "There was only one. Only one, and I did it for us."

"Zephyr!" Leon shouted. "You burned their fortress, but this time you made a mistake. They traced it to you."

Horror choked her words. "What?! No... Leon I swear. It wasn't me." Her mind suddenly went to the fireballs she had cast into the trees while she rode along the path. Had it spread to the fortress?

"You can explain that to Eden and the survivors of Zephyr," said Leon harshly. He grabbed Tammy by the front of her robes and hauled her to her feet. "I'm sure they'll be delighted to see you."

"I'm not going back!" Tammy screamed. "I killed Panda so that we could escape. I saw how you used to look at her. There's nothing left to come between us. It's just you and me now Leon. Please. I love you... We don't have to stay there."

Leon's eyes widened and he backed away from her as if she had hit him. "So it's true then. You killed her." He took a deep breath that sounded more like a sob. "She sacrificed everything for us! For Eden! And this is how you repaid her!"

"Let it go," Tammy begged. "I would never hurt you. Isn't this what you wanted? A place for us to finally be alone. We don't have to answer to anyone or anything out here. We're free, Leon. Finally."

She watched his face, searching for a hint of love or acceptance or anything. She found nothing.

"They're hunting you, Tammy," Leon said after a moment of silence. "They'll search every inch of the forest until they find you. And when they find you, they'll kill you. I'm trying to save you. So if you love me... Let me save you. We'll go back to Eden and you'll survive. I won't run away with you, but I won't let you die alone."

Tammy looked into his eyes. They were dark and filled with pain.

"Do you still love me Leon?"

She already knew the answer but she had to hear it from him. Some part of her still refused to believe it.

"I tried to," Leon said. "But I don't. I can't. Not after what you've done."

His words felt like knives, cutting Tammy's heart into a thousand tiny pieces. _So this is how it ends._

"I have nothing left to say to you," Tammy whispered.

She dug her toe under the handle of her fallen gemini and kicked it up into her hand. A flame burst roared to life in her palm, and it exploded at Leon's feet. He flew backwards away from her and there was an awful crunch of breaking bone as his head struck a nearby tree trunk. He slid to the ground and did not move.

Tears burned her eyes like fire, but Tammy ignored them. She leaped onto her horse and galloped away into the forest without looking back.


	5. Chapter 5

Skarlet raced back up the stairs to her room. Her heart was beating so loudly that it drowned out every other noise around her. Panda was dead. Zephyr was destroyed. Tammy was missing. Leon was gone.

" _What will it take, Skarlet_?" Pran had asked.

 _No more,_ Skarlet thought. _One way or another, I will end this._

She picked up the folded paper that Pran had left on her desk. It was labeled "For When You Change Your Mind." Skarlet unfolded it with shaky hands. The Kalibur, Eden, and Oops seals had been drawn and linked together to form a strange spiky pentagram.

 _How much more blood needs to be shed for her and Leon?_

blood...

She gritted her teeth and ran the edge of the page across her fingertip, digging it in until a red bead welled up from the cut, then let the drops fall into the center of the drawing.

She closed her eyes and tried to imagine Pran's face, with the cold disdain in his eyes when he had spoken to her.

 _Pran_ , Skarlet thought. _I was wrong. So wrong. Please come back. Leon went after Tammy. She could kill him out there and we'd never find him. Please, help us. I can't lose another one!_

 ** _I'm here..._**

His whisper in her mind was like sandpaper sliding over her brain. Skarlet recoiled from the sound, dropping the paper, and opened her eyes. She hurried back down the stairs, knowing he was waiting for her even before she heard Delta's panicked yell of "How the fuck did you get in here?!"

Three people stood on the landing of the stairs. One was Pran, wearing the mossy skull mask of an earthwarden. The other two were a tall male cryomancer and a short female berserker. All three of them looked ready to run over an entire team of rogue pyros without breaking a sweat. Skarlet breathed a sigh of relief.

"So glad you finally made the right choice," Pran said condescendingly. "Which way did Leon go?"

"Main path. None of us knew where else to look. I couldn't stop him." Skarlet tried to breathe through her cupped hands. She could feel herself starting to panic.

"Do you still want her alive?" he asked.

"Just find Leon first," Skarlet said miserably. "Alive. Deal with Tammy after that."

"Hmm." Pran looked at his friends. "Sheema, I think you should stay here. You could kill her if something goes wrong."

"Don't leave me with him," Sheema growled. "I don't like... him."

"What?" Skarlet looked over at the sitting room and noticed a faint silhouette in the darkest corner. "Oh for fuck's sake Loco, you can't stay here forever."

"It's only been a day," Loco mumbled. "Hi Sheema."

"We don't have time for this!" Pran snapped. "Sheema, you can sit in one of the rooms upstairs. We won't be out too long, hopefully. Fahsil, get our horses ready to go. Skarlet, you're coming with us to find Leon, then you'll bring him back to the fortress and it'll just be me and Fahsil going to catch Tammy. Get geared up. We'll wait outside for you."

"Be careful," Delta wrote on a scrap of paper.

"I will," Skarlet said, and grabbed her drakefang from the storage room. Fahsil had already brought her skeleton horse out of the stables.

"Let's move!" Pran and Fahsil took off down the path. Skarlet followed close behind, dreading what they'd find when they saw Leon.

"Tammy would come to him, if she was nearby," Pran said. "Leon wouldn't know where to look. Check for burn marks or fire on the ground, tree branches, tree trunks, and smell the air for smoke! I doubt he'd yell for help if he was still alive, since he'd either be unwilling to attract Tammy's attention again, or he could be unconscious."

 _Or dead_ , Skarlet thought, but she didn't say it.

"Check the ground for drag marks. She'd hide his body," Fahsil added. "Wait, I smell smoke. Stop over here." He pulled his horse to a halt and swung down off the saddle.

"Alright, looks like a pyromancer definitely had a fight with someone. There's a burn crater on the ground, probably from a missed Flame Burst, and scorch marks on the surrounding trees. Is this blood?" Fahsil pointed to a dark stain on a trunk that stood out from the surrounding burns.

"Yeah..." Skarlet followed him into the trees, but stopped when she saw a glittering heap lying in the fallen leaves. "Leon! Oh my god." She pushed Fahsil out of the way and knelt at his side. Leon's neck was angled strangely, and there were bloodstains in his hair, but he was still breathing. He didn't respond when she called his name.

"His neck is fractured, but not badly," Pran said. "My Healing Totem won't be enough, but if he gets to an aquamancer, he'll be fine."

Skarlet straightened out his arms and legs and tried to check his eyes, but they were rolled back in his head and she could only see the whites. "How long do you think he's been here?"

"I can't tell." Pran cautiously felt the sides of Leon's jaw and neck but shook his head and backed away. "I can definitely say it hasn't been more than two hours. But that's plenty of time for Tammy to get away."

"I feel like I shouldn't move him," Skarlet murmured. "I don't want to make it worse. Where's the nearest guild fortress?"

"It would have been Zephyr," Pran said. "Now it's just medic tents."

"I'll get an aquamancer from there." Skarlet looked around and spotted the little circle of white tents through the trees. "And we'll wait here until you come back with Tammy. Alive if you can, remember? Only dead if you have to."

"Got it." Pran climbed back up into the saddle. "Alright. She won't be on the trail or anywhere near it. She'll be avoiding other guild fortresses, and the lake probably. Okay, let's try the sides of the new path going towards the bridge. It's pretty remote."

"Sounds good." Fahsil and Pran disappeared down the road in a cloud of dust from the horses' hooves. Skarlet watched them go.

"Even after all this, you still had faith that she'd listen to you," she said to the unconscious Leon. "And even after all this, she still couldn't bring herself to kill you with her own fire. I'll bring her back to you alive, Leon. Somehow."

It was midday but the woods were dark as night. Skarlet hurried through the trees on foot, not wanting to make much noise. She had left her horse and Leon with the aquamancer at Zephyr, praying that Tammy wouldn't circle around and finish him off. Stress and terror were grating her nerves raw. Every forest noise was the sound of an ambush.

There was something white glittering on the ground ahead. Skarlet peered at it and touched it cautiously. It was ice. Fahsil had fought here...

She looked up at the trees, searching for clues. There didn't seem to be any signs of fire, or earthwarden spikes, but there was a thin smeared trail of blood droplets leading away from the area. It looked like someone had clamped a hand over a wound, but Skarlet couldn't tell whose blood it was.

She followed the trail, Enderfist in hand, ready to fight. More Frostbolt stains on the trees. A shattered Boulder that had plowed down a stand of tiny saplings. Dry twigs smoking gently, which Skarlet quickly stamped out. And in a clearing up ahead, there was an oddly shaped lump and a gleam of metal on the ground. She drew back quickly, afraid that it might be Tammy's body, but whoever it was, they were much too tall. Skarlet crept a little closer and noticed they were still breathing, but they were face down in the earth. She carefully turned the person over. The smell of burnt flesh overwhelmed her.

"Fahsil..." Skarlet covered her mouth and turned away from the sight. The cryomancer had a hole in his chest deep enough to show his heart barely fluttering behind his charred ribs. The shattered remains of an Ice Barrier sparkled gently around the wound like a halo of frost.

So Tammy had managed to overpower one of her pursuers. Skarlet pushed the horror out of her mind and tried to think clearly. Where was Pran, and where had Tammy gone? She turned the scene over in her head. Fahsil had found Tammy, alone, and fought her. He had likely called for help from Pran, and the two had pursued her here. She had landed a direct hit on Fahsil... but where did that leave them afterwards? There was no trail beyond the clearing. And why hadn't Pran healed him after he had been wounded?

There was only one good explanation, and Skarlet's heart sank into her toes. Pran had Tammy. And he had left Fahsil to die.

Skarlet glanced back the way she'd come. There was no way she could get to an aquamancer and still have enough time to talk Pran down from killing her. Another horrible thought occurred to her- Pran had left him as bait for any pursuers to give himself enough time... to do what? Torture Tammy? But why?

She gritted her teeth and did her best to cover Fahsil's burn again, but pressed on into the woods. She had to keep her promise to Leon. _Tammy shouldn't die without seeing him again... At least, they would both have that closure_.

The ground suddenly rumbled under Skarlet's feet. She stumbled back as a wall of Earthen Spikes exploded upwards. Leaves and roots flew everywhere, blinding her for a second.

"I'm sorry Skarlet." Pran's voice came from just beyond the spike barrier. "You shouldn't have followed me here."

"What are you doing?" Skarlet cried. "Where's Tammy?"

Pran ignored the question. "You're too late anyway." The Spikes shattered and melted back into the dust on the ground, letting Skarlet see him clearly for the first time. He was standing over Tammy's unconscious bloody form, holding her Gemini in one hand and his earthwarden's Broccomace in the other.

"Please... just listen to me." Skarlet edged towards him, not knowing what he planned to do, only that he had to be stopped. "She didn't kill Leon. She couldn't do it. Even after she knew we were hunting her, even after she murdered Panda, she couldn't kill him. She did this out of love for him Pran... As sick as it sounds, she did this out of love. Let me bring her back to Eden alive."

"I don't think you understand." Pran tossed the pyromancer's gemini away. "There was a reason I told you to stay with Leon." Green light shimmered menacingly around the head of the broccomace. "I didn't want Eden to lose another leader."

"Don't do this," Skarlet breathed. "We'll go back to the fortress. I'll get help for Fahsil and Tammy will face justice in front of Eden and the survivors of Zephyr. I won't tell anyone what happened here... Please. Just come back with me."

Pran lowered the broccomace and looked her in the eye for the first time. His expression was unreadable behind the shaman mask.

"You're right." He took a step towards Skarlet and pointed the staff at her. "You won't tell anyone what happened here."

Skarlet tried to back away, but she was too slow. Pran made a swift gesture and a Boulder flew through the air, knocking her to the ground and pinning her legs underneath it. The pain was so great and so sudden, she couldn't even scream. Bone edges pierced her skin and warm blood began to soak the dust under her.

She gazed up into the tree canopy and trailed her fingers through the mud, feeling icy heaviness moving up her limbs.

 _Forgive me Leon... I couldn't save her._

Darkness started to fog the sky above her. _At least I'll see Panda again soon_.

Soft green light pulsed at the edge of her vision. Waves of warm numbness washed over her, wiping away the pain. Skarlet blinked the clouds out of her eyes and looked up.

"I've changed my mind," Pran said lazily. "You came here for Leon, didn't you? He should know what happened to his beloved Tammy before she begged me to end her pain... So you can go back after we're done here and tell him. I'm sure he'll understand."

Skarlet opened her mouth to protest, but her words turned into a scream of agony as Pran forced an Earthen Spike through the right side of her chest, just under her collarbone. The Healing Totem nearby faded away, and the pain came back twice as bad as before. Skarlet could feel tears mixing with the blood and shredded flesh splattered on her face.

Pran was walking away, back to where Fahsil still lay dying. Tammy was beginning to stir and moan faintly. Her unbroken hand was reaching for her fallen gemini. _Run_ , Skarlet wanted to scream at her, but the words wouldn't come out.

A Frostbolt exploded inches from Tammy's fingers.

"I don't think so," said Pran sharply. "Get up." He stormed past Skarlet, carrying Fahsil's void edge. Tammy tried to push herself upright, but Pran grabbed her by the throat and slammed her head against a nearby tree trunk. She simply began to laugh, a horrible gurgling sound, as she grinned at him with teeth that dripped crimson.

"Was your little friend so precious to you?" Tammy rasped. "Should teach him how to dodge a Flame Burst."

"This isn't about him," Pran said, with deadly calm. "This is about Panda."

Tammy's awful smile grew even wider. Bloody drool ran down her chin and she spat on the ground. A tooth bounced off of Pran's boot.

"She never loved you," Tammy whispered. "Killing me won't bring her back."

"Of course it won't." Pran raised the Void Edge and a pure white ball of ice began to form on the dark iron point. "But it'll certainly make me feel better."

Tammy fell silent, watching the ice ball slowly grow. When it was the size of a large marble, Pran released his grip on Tammy's neck and broke the ball off into his palm.

The moment she was free, Tammy lunged for her Gemini. Pran kicked her in the knee, almost carelessly, and it broke with a harsh snap. She managed to cast a single weak Fireball, but he absorbed the hit without even blinking.

"You never could fight fair, could you Tammy?" Pran laughed cruelly and tossed the ice ball up and down in his hand. "Whatever. Time to end this."

He shifted his grip on the Void Edge and slammed the hilt into the side of Tammy's face. Skarlet gasped, feeling the pain in her own jaw as the joint snapped apart. Tammy shrieked in pain and fell to her knees, choking for air. Pran wrenched her mouth open and forced the ice ball down her throat, then sent her sprawling to the ground with a swift kick.

"Are you still alive, Skarly?" Pran jabbed her in the arm with the void edge's point and Skarlet let out a hiss of pain. "Oh good. Would have been awkward trying to explain that. Now that I've got, well, a _captive_ audience, let's put on a show, hmm?" He sat down on a nearby log next to Skarlet and pointed the void edge at Tammy.

There was a terrible cracking, ripping sound. Tammy's eyes widened and she began to convulse, gripping her gut. Chunky pinkish fluid ran from her broken mouth and dripped down her chin. Her breathing became wet, labored coughs.

 _What is that? ...Oh. Oh god Pran, no..._

Ice. It was ice crystals. The ice ball in her stomach was growing, freezing her from the inside out. Even as Skarlet realized it, Tammy's skin was twisting and distorting. Icicles as thin and sharp as needles began to poke out, opening a thousand oozing wounds on her face and arms.

Pran drummed his heels on the ground and hummed a distracted little tune as the ice spikes continued to grow, ripping through Tammy's armor, carrying out bits of her insides on the bloodstained points. Skarlet tried to block out the wet squelching sounds of tearing flesh, but couldn't suppress the taste of bile and blood rising in her throat. One of Tammy's eyes seemed to bulge strangely before an icicle forced it out of the socket with a small pop. Dark blood ran down her cheek like tears.

It went on for what felt like hours. Skarlet was growing lightheaded from shock, but it was numbing the pain in her legs and chest. Pran was still humming his song and drawing a picture in the dirt with the Void Edge. He seemed entirely unaffected by the scene in front of him. The hacking, clogged coughs from Tammy were becoming slower and weaker. She was almost unrecognizable, and a terrible pang of guilt and grief stung Skarlet's heart. If she hadn't invited Pran back, this never would have happened... but would Leon be alive?

Skarlet was snapped out of her daze by Pran's foot slamming into her ribs.

"Wake up, I need you conscious," he barked. The Earthen Spike and Boulder melted away, freeing her. Skarlet took a shaky breath, not believing she was alive, but noticed the mangled lump of bloody ice and flesh that had once been Tammy. She closed her eyes. The sight chewed at her sanity.

"Tell Leon I'll be back at Kalibur with Fahsil if he wants to thank me in person," Pran said lightly. "I'm sure the Zephyr medics have brought him back to the Eden fortress by now. I'd suggest you leave before I change my mind about letting you live."

"You broke my f***ing legs, r****d," Skarlet hissed at him. "It'll take me weeks to crawl out of here."

"You have a horse, don't you?" Pran was already walking away. "Fahsil will probably want his sword back... hmm, I should get myself one of these. Oh, and tell Major and Sheer that I'll meet them in the Prototype Lobby later. If you even make it back alive, anyway."

Skarlet looked desperately around, but her horse was nowhere in sight. She took a deep breath and tried to ignore the agony gnawing at her body long enough to summon it back to her. Hoofbeats echoed through the trees, and it appeared a few moments later. Skarlet managed to drag herself onto its back when it knelt down.

"Ashes of Eden guild fortress," she choked out. "Hurry."

The horse began to move. Skarlet clung to its back with what was left of her strength, and allowed herself to finally sink into the darkness.


	6. Chapter 6

Leon walked carefully through the trees, feeling the last traces of soreness up and down his back. The aquamancer had warned him not to overdo it for a few weeks, but he hadn't listened.

Skarlet was still limping, so he slowed down to let her catch up to him. "How much farther is it?" he asked her.

"We're close." She leaned against a tree trunk, panting for breath. Fresh blood was starting to stain the bandages on her chest again. "There's another clearing past this, and a burnt tree. That's where I found... where Fahsil found Tammy and she..."

Leon nodded, cutting her off before she could finish. The memories were still too painful. It seemed like yesterday that he'd woken up and seen Delta frantically trying to stop the blood pouring from what remained of Skarlet's legs and the ragged hole in her chest. Even after she'd been healed, she could barely get out a vague sentence before bursting into panicked sobs again. Pran... Leon shook off the image and kept walking. Pran had been right, in the worst way. He should have let her go. Why hadn't he let go?

"Up ahead," Skarlet whispered. She waved weakly at the trees ahead. "Don't make me go back... I can't go back." She turned away quickly but Leon could see the tears on her face.

"Stay here," he said. "I'll be back."

He left Skarlet in the second clearing and braced himself for the sight. Over the last week, he'd been able to pry the details out of her, but she'd broken down every time at the slightest suggestion. When he saw it, he knew why.

The ice had melted, and only a ragged heap of bones, cloth, and reeking flesh was left. Leon was glad he couldn't see her face. He stood as close as he could bear and tried to remember anything about her- Tammy smiling, Tammy laughing, Tammy's voice. But the only thing that came to mind was the look on her face a second before the Flame Burst had exploded at his feet. Grief, rage, heartbreak.

" _Do you still love me, Leon_?"

" _I tried to_... _But I don't. I can't. Not after what you've done_."

He had tried to do so many things- save Panda, save Eden, save Tammy. What had he done?

"I lied to you," he said, hoping somehow that she could hear him. "When I said I didn't love you... I lied, and you died thinking I hated you. I'm sorry."

There was no response, not even a whisper of wind. Leon waited a few more moments, but gave up and sat down next to the sad remains. He wasn't sure what he had expected.

"I loved you," he said. "But I hated what you did, and I was afraid of you. I was afraid of what you'd say or do, if you knew I still cared, because... maybe I loved the idea of you. Not who you truly were."

It felt as if a great weight had lifted off of Leon's chest. Maybe this was the closure he had wanted.

"I blinded myself to the darkness in you," he said. The words were coming out easier now. "I'll never know if it was something I did or said, or if it was part of you all along. Maybe I never knew the real you, until now. But I clung to what I thought you were until it almost killed me."

The wind in the clearing began to pick up. Fallen leaves scattered over Tammy's bones.

"Maybe you'd have come back to Eden with me, if I said I loved you," Leon said. "I should have been honest with you... I should have done so much. I wish I knew you could hear me. But what's done is done... so I'll remember what you used to be, not what you became."

He stood up, brushed a patch of leaves aside, and began picking up pebbles of all shapes and sizes, slowly piling up a little cairn over the bones. The sun had begun to set, and it was nearly dark by the time he was done, but it felt right.

As he searched for the last few stones, he saw a flash of blue on the ground. Tammy's gemini lay where it had fallen; the metal and glass sparkled in the dirt. Leon picked it up. It did not glow or shimmer the way it had when Tammy held it, but it felt quieter somehow, and friendlier.

Skarlet was still sitting in the clearing when he returned. Her breathing was calmer now.

"I'm ready to go back," he told her.

"Did you get what you came for?"

Leon glanced back at the silhouette of the cairn in the twilight, then at the gemini in his hand.

"Yes," he said. "I did."


End file.
